Invasion of Malaya

The Invasion of Malaya occurred on 8 December 1941 when Imperial Japanese Army troops made landings at Kota Bharu and Penang on the eastern shore of the British colony of Malaya in Southeast Asia at the start of World War II for Japan. 5,300 Japanese troops, commanded by General Tomoyuki Yamashita and covered by a fleet under Admiral Shintaro Hashimoto, landed on Malaya and brushed aside contingents of British Indian Army troops that attempted to stop the Japanese advance. Australian air attacks, Indian coastal defenses, and artillery fire inflicted significant losses on the Japanese, who successfully made their landings. On 22 January 1942, Kuala Lumpur fell as the Japanese continued to push south into Johore, and the last Allied forces withdrew from Malaya to Singapore on 31 January 1942.